As people pass by the roads of Parian, no one would notice
the existence of a 281-year-old house because it is today hidden in the very
high walls of a hardware store, the Ho Tong Hardware.
The banner outside the Ho Tong Hardware proclaims the
existence of an old house inside. According to the man who guided us inside,
Architect Tony Abelgas, the house used to be owned by a Jesuit priest that was
assigned in Cebu. The Jesuits arrived in the country
to spread Christianity and when they reached Cebu,
they established their community at Parian, which was also where the Chinese
people lived. The Jesuits evangelized many indios and Chinese people by opening
a school and building a church, Iglesia de San Juan de Bautista. In 1768, the
Jesuits were expelled by the Spanish officials abandoning the house.
According to G. Bagares (as cited in Inquirer News, 2011), the house was
possessed by the Alvarez family in 1910 that settled in Cebu.
Don Luis Alvarez bought the house through a Spaniard who was with him when he
was still working in the Tabacalera. The house was then later on rented by the
Osmeña’s and after a decade, the house was transferred in the ownership of the
present owner, the Sy family which is also the owner of the Ho Tong Hardware.
The Jesuit house is located across the Heritage Monument
in Cebu and is between the streets of Zulueta
and Binakayan.
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the main entrance of the house,
closer view of the monogram |
The house’s main entrance is along the Binakayan Street but it was closed down so
it can be accessed by entering the main entrance of the hardware which is
located along the Zulueta Street.
In the original main entrance of the house, a carved monogram is located above
the door which shows the society’s IHS. The IHS in the monogram means ihsus or ihsus hominum salvador,
which means “Jesus, Savior of Mankind”. Because the IHS is used by many orders at that time,
the Jesuits added three “mushroom-like” carvings below the IHS word to
differentiate them from the others. The carvings added represents the three
nails that were used in the crucifixion of Jesus.
The structure of the house is mainly influenced by the
Chinese. The house is divided into two, referred by Architect Tony as the
service house and the main house and is connected by a covered bridge. This
setup is very typical to Chinese houses or temples because its main purpose is
to separate the service house from the main house. The Chinese thought that if
ever an accident occurs in the service house (like fire), the main house cannot
be easily affected.
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| the azotea of the service house |
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| the covered bridge that connects the service house and the main house |
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| the main house |
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a wooden foundation of the service
house with corbels at its side |
According
to R. Javellana (1989), the service house is much smaller than the main house
and functioned more liked a roofed azotea, where the Jesuits spent their
afternoons praying alone or doing some recreational activities. The dining hall
and the kusina (kitchen) are also
located in the service house. The dining hall displays a long table which is
still influenced by the Chinese. It was the former tower of the house but
it was demolished because the structure is prone to earthquakes. The kusina (kitchen), located beside the
dining hall, is a typical Filipino kitchen where the abuhan and banguerahan
are located. The abuhan is the
cooking area where in the traditional clay pots were used. The banguerahan is the area where the plates
are being washed and dried. The water used in washing is placed inside a tadjao and banga. The tadjao and banga are both jars but the difference
is its size. Tadjao is much bigger
than the banga. The walls of the
house are bipartite, meaning, the lower storey of the house is made of stone
while the upper is made of wood.
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| the dining hall showing the typical long table |
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| the traditional kusina with the abuhan (left) and banguerahan (right) |
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| the Año 1730 |
After
crossing the covered bridge is the other side of the structure, the main house.
In the sala, the sculpted “Año 1730” (which means Year 1730) can be found above
the door, which became the basis on determining the age of the house. The floor
of the house has an alternating color pattern for an aesthetic design. The
walls of the main house were 2 feet thick, the interior and the exterior wall
binded together by a cavity made of grava and lime mortar (combination of lime,
washed sand and water). The lime mortar serves as the cement at that time. Then
the walls are locked together by the corbels that can be found around the
house.
The main
posts of the house were buried under the ground and then masa pamada is applied. Masa
pamada is the process where in the tinabliya
(square-shaped blocks of stones) is piled around the post and is placed
together by the lime mortar. It is then surrounded by wood sticks for
additional support. The walls of the
house are made of coral stones covered with egg whites.
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| the architectural representation of the structure of the house |
The iron
grills in the window of the sala are called the buntis grill and underneath it is the ventanilla. Occasionally, a butaka
is located near the window. It is a chair with long armrest or leg rest (for
men) and a small stool (for ladies) used in spending the lazy afternoons.
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| the buntis grill (above) and ventanilla (below) |
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| the butaka |
The holding
of the posts to the beams of the roof of the house were done by using the dou
gong bracket which is influenced again by the Chinese. The dou gong bracket is
the interlocking of the brackets to one another. The main purpose of the
bracket system used is when an earthquake occurs, the house will not fall but
instead, it will just move, following the shake of the ground. At first glance
on the beams, one can think that the beams are slowly deteriorating because of
the colors, but the colors were paintings to add an aesthetic design to the
house.
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| the beams of the house |
The
roof‘s formation is a double-A frame. The roof has two rows of tiles – each row
above the other – facing up and the other facing down. At the edge of the roof,
there are two tiles that faced down so that the roof would flare. The roof had
also a plate which means in feng shui, good luck.
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| the top view of the house showing the roof tiles and the plate |
In the bedroom, a Chinese influenced bed can be found, the Ah Tay bed. The bed is adorned with squash and pineapple on its posts which is also typical to Chinese beds because it is the sign of good luck. A birthing chair is also located inside the bedroom. The divisions of the walls of the bedroom differ from one another. The other wall, the original one, made by the Spanish was rough because it is done manually while the other one was made by the Americans where in machines were used.
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the Ah Tay bed (right) and the birthing chair (left)
Below the
main house is the Sugbu Gallery. This gallery shows the history of Cebu and Parian. The artifacts collected during the
restoration process can also be found in the gallery like the coins from the
Ming Dynasty, animal bones, and porcelains. The walls of the room were colored
in orange. Its purpose is for waterproofing because this room is prone to
floods. It is made of powdered terracotta mixed with lime mortar for binding.
|
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| some things that can be found inside the gallery |
According
to Architect Tony, there were no major changes needed to do with the house
because it is still very stable and strong. The repairs needed concerned about the
posts of the main house and its roof. As years pass by, the posts of the house
starts to decay not because of the termites, but because of the temperature.
Referred by Architect Tony as the situation of heaven and hell, the buried and
the exposed part of the post have different temperatures, so the part in
which the temperature changes softens and starts to decay. Because of the
decaying problem, the posts are slowly sinking. The fixing of the posts is very
difficult because the posts support the whole structure of the main house and
when one of the posts are not properly supported upon the restoration, there is
a big possibility that the house would fall down. Fixing the posts is also very
expensive because it costs around 50,000 to 60,000 pesos.
The next and considered as the main problem is the roof. Until now, it remained untouched because fixing it is very
complicated. Repairing it means that the roof tiles should be removed piece by
piece and put numbers on them by its order then assemble it again piece by
piece. But this procedure doesn't guarantee that the house’s roof would be
leak-free. They planned to build a transparent roof over it and put a catwalk
on its side so that the future visitors would have a nice view of the house’s
roof.
The owners has plans to add another gallery next year that exhibits the history of the Parian and hopefully the following year after that, they will open up another gallery that exhibits the architectural features of the houses present in Parian.
The
Jesuit house tells us different stories about Cebu’s
past. It reflects on the events that happened in Cebu and its people.
From the invasion of the Spaniards, the arrival of the Americans, the
oppressions of the Japanese, just like the house, the Cebuanos are still strong
and very stable.
Bibliography:
Abelgas, Anthony. Personal Interview. 13 October,2011.
Emperor Karl. Jesuit House of 1730 in Parian. Online, internet. Available URL:
Gavin Bagares. The Enigmatic Jesuit House of Cebu City. Online, internet. Available URL:
